


Mine [Taken]

by Jesi_Ki_Kage



Series: A Prisoner [1]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Altered Mental States, Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Choking, Don't Have to Know Canon, Dubious Ethics, Dubious Morality, Eventual Smut, Extremely Dubious Consent, F/F, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, Mental Health Issues, Mental Triggers, Mild Smut, Oral Sex, Potentially Happy Ending, Pre-Canon, Red Room (Marvel), Red Room Natasha, Smut, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Unhealthy Relationships, Vaginal Fingering, pre-SHIELD, prisoner capture relations, smut scene very short, the smut scene is easily skipped
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:35:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23062555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jesi_Ki_Kage/pseuds/Jesi_Ki_Kage
Summary: Natalia was not surprised when, after three days of torturing the woman, the Red Room granted their latest prisoner to her as a reward. It was so she could enact her vengeance they said, over the woman who had succeeded in injuring the infamous Black Widow where so many before her had failed.
Relationships: Maria Hill/Natasha Romanov
Series: A Prisoner [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863811
Comments: 5
Kudos: 168





	Mine [Taken]

**Author's Note:**

  * For [auwana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/auwana/gifts).



> HAPPY BIRTHDAY auwana!!!!
> 
> Italics are Russian
> 
> This was both a birthday present and a writing experiment for myself so hopefully it turned out well. Being demi-sexual it was rather interesting to write this so hopefully it turned out well. The smut scene is only like, 500 words near the end so very skippable if that's not your thing.
> 
> come yell at me @standinshadowedsilence

Natalia was not surprised when, after three days of torturing the woman, the Red Room granted their latest prisoner to her as a reward. It was so she could enact her vengeance they said, over the woman who had succeeded in injuring the infamous Black Widow where so many before her had failed.

The Red Room had given Natalia rewards in the past. She knows they are just the Red Room’s way of reminding her who is in control. The Red Room giveth and the Red Room taketh. She has never been allowed to keep a reward longer than three months. And if she showed she became attached to a reward then she would be the one to kill it.

Whether that reward was a kitten while she was still in training, a fellow agent, or a prisoner.

Rewards were meant as treats. But also as reminders that she was above such things as possessions.

Because of this Natalia looked at the beaten, bloody, and unconscious woman now confined to Natalia’s quarters with impassive eyes. Whether the woman lived or died at this point mattered not to her. Her handlers would not be surprised if Natalia simply let the woman die. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time Natalia showed indifference to their rewards.

Although they would always remind her, after, to show thanks instead of spite when they gave her something.

With an inaudible sigh Natalia turned on her heel and went to find one of the caretakers who would look after rewards while Red Room operatives were on assignment. Look after was a figurative term, but they would provide basic medical care, one meal a day, and other items upon her request.

For now Natalia would make sure her reward received enough care to survive. She would figure out the rest later.

Her handlers had another mission for her, broken collarbone or no.

* * *

Three days later Natalia returned to her room under sheer will power alone. Resting against the closed door for a moment she worked to catch her breath. Her broken bone was still broken, advanced healing or not, and now Natalia had a litany of additional wounds courtesy of her superiors for the sloppy job done while nursing said broken bone.

A small noise of surprise had her eyes flying open as she instinctively moved into a fighting stance, med kit falling to the ground.

It took a few seconds for her to remember why there was a woman, skin marred in blacks and blues and half sealed cuts, curled into one corner of her room.

Her reward.

Blinking for a moment Natalia just stared at the woman. Only one blue eye was visible thanks to the other bearing a black eye. She likely had a few broken bones but Natalia hadn’t bothered to check and the Red Room didn’t waste splints on prisoners, even rewards. Sometimes they didn’t even bother with splints for their agents.

Usually, like today, the agents were given an assessment upon return. If the injuries were deemed to the point the agent could handle treating the wound themselves then a med kit would be issued and the agent sent on their way.

The only thing they had bothered to treat was her broken collar bone since it was apparently affecting her field work.

With a sigh Natalia relaxed her stance, moving stiffly to pick up the dropped med kit with the arm not bound to her chest. She’d patch up what she could but knew she wouldn’t be able to undo the sling herself, nor would she be able to treat most of her torso wounds because of it.

Wearily she moved to the sliding door separating the bathroom from the rest of her room and began to strip as best she could. Pants and underwear were annoying but fairly easy one handed. Knowing clothing could be replaced easily she didn’t bother trying to get the shirt off, simply took a scissor to the material and cut it off. Her bra was handled the same way.

A brief inspection of her injuries followed before a shower.

Now clean she applied gauze and cream to the areas she could reach with her right arm, even managing to reach a few scratches across her torso with some effort. Satisfied with her work she returned to the bedroom only to pause as she was once again reminded of her reward sitting in the corner watching her.

With another sigh, she turned around, grabbed the closed med kit, and chucked it on the floor in front of the woman. There was no concern about the woman finding something she could use to escape in it. Even if she could get out of the chain around her ankle, overcome Natalia, and exit the room, they were in the middle of the facility. The woman would have to traverse two floors and half the building to find an exit.

No, Natalia had no concern of the woman escaping.

And while the chain would allow the woman to reach the bed Natalia was now collapsing onto, Natalia found she didn’t care if the woman tried to attack her in her sleep. It would be no different than any number of nights living in the Red Room.

Once in bed Natalia slid her hand into the still done cuff on the bed frame before allowing sleep to claim her.

Maybe the woman would find a way to finally end Natalia’s existence.

* * *

A click brought Natalia to alertness instantly. Listening she heard rustling moment, the occasional soft hitch of breath, the sound of abrasive seals being opened. Cracking her eyes slightly she realized faint light was coming from the bathroom.

For a moment she wondered if the woman had managed to turn the light on before remembering the chain only allowed her access to the toilet. A luxury Natalia knew several of her fellow agents didn’t permit their rewards. Granted, after the first time Natalia had come back to find a reward had soiled themselves she’d decided she never wanted her room smelling that way again.

Her superiors had been greatly amused by her request for a longer chain.

Watching her current reward through stilted eyes Natalia couldn’t help but wonder what life had been like for the woman before she had become a target of the Red Room. Well, not her specifically, but the mission her team had been on. From what her handler had let slip the woman had been too new to the organization to have any truly valuable information. Oh they still tortured her anyways, as she was the team lead, but they hadn’t expected much and that expectation had been met.

Watching the woman treat her own injuries with practiced efficiency Natalia wondered what life experience the woman had to know how. All of Natalia’s training told her most agencies didn’t bother teaching their agents how to do more than immediate first aid. Yet this woman was currently stitching up a gash along her hip that the caretakers hadn’t bothered with

Natalia found herself falling into a sort of numb state as she watched the woman work. It wasn’t long until her exhausted brain pulled her back asleep. Several minutes after her breathing evened out blue eyes chanced a glance at her before resuming their focus on another stitch.

The woman wondered at her situation, at her roommate, at what was to come.

* * *

Natalia had been given the next day off to, ah, enjoy her reward. She used it to sleep in. Around lunch she went to eat. It wasn’t until she was walking back into the room that she remembered the caretakers wouldn’t feed her reward now that she was back. Pivoting she left before the door had even closed to track down food for her reward.

Once she returned she placed the food on the table, chucked a shirt and a pair of shorts at the woman before leaving again to restock the med kit.

When she returned the food was gone and the woman was now dressed, although once again huddled in the corner. 

Deciding she’d been seen out and about enough for the day Natalia settled into the open space in the opposite corner of the room from the woman and began her stretches. After a few hours of light work testing her bodies healing she showered, reapplied bandages then went for food. This time she remembered to bring back food for her reward.

No words were exchanged the entire day.

Or the next day.

The third day Natalia was given another assignment.

This is where things changed. Trying to put on her catsuit with one arm in a sling was proving nigh impossible. The last two days she had not been required to wear her skin tight uniform, thus opting for loose clothing she could maneuver her sling in and out of. Currently she was attempting to undo the blasted sling one handed so she could finish getting dressed. The sling needed to come off either way since she couldn’t wear it in the field, but she’d been hoping to at least be mission ready outside of the sling prior to leaving her room.

“Let me.”

The voice was soft, raspy from disuse.

Still Natalia tensed, whirling into a defensive posture facing the voice before she realized it was her reward who had spoken.

The woman was standing a few steps from Natalia in the clothes Natalia had given her earlier. She was shaky and favoring her weight on one side but there was determination in her eyes. Jaw muscle set as Natalia challenged her with a raised eyebrow.

“Let me help you.”

Natalia stared for a few more seconds before nodding ever so slightly and relaxing her stance. The woman nodded in return, gaze flicking over Natalia before she took a careful step forward. Natalia didn’t miss the way the woman’s gaze locked on her belt buckle a second longer than anywhere else.

If she hadn’t known who Natalia was by appearance alone she certainly did now. The Black Widow hourglass was on proud display after all.

With confident, if shaky, steps the woman closed the distance. Sure hands reached up and began undoing the straps holding Natalia’s arm pinned against her chest. Once it was free the woman pulled the sling off completely. Natalia opened her mouth to thank her but the woman simply raised an eyebrow.

Natalia felt a tug on the sleeve of the suit she still needed to put on.

“I’m going to put my hand over your collarbone. Is that okay?”

Natalia blinked at her, completely thrown. Her arm started to move on it’s own before pain flashed through her from the break shifting. The rest the last few days had helped significantly, but it’d still be another week at minimum before the bone was healed. Another two before the worst of the pain was gone. Nodding around a tensed jaw Natalia allowed the women to touch her.

Cool fingers pressed carefully against her skin and Natalia fought a shiver as deft hands began moving her arm around enough to get her the rest of the way into her catsuit.

Once she was done the woman reached for the sling again, but Natalia interrupted, speaking for the first time.

“Don’t bother. It’s not authorized while on mission.”

“You’re goin-”

Natalia raised an eyebrow and the woman clamped her jaw shut. The woman’s jaw muscles flexed and there was steal in her gaze. Natalia wondered what the woman was thinking, what about the situation had caused the woman’s emotions to surface so strongly.

She dismissed the thought as quickly as it came.

Her reward would only be alive for another eight weeks at best.

There was no point in learning how the woman thought.

* * *

The mission lasted a week. The only good thing about it is that Natalia didn’t have to fight at any point. No, that was handled by the Soldier. Natalia is seething on her way back to her room.

Her handler had been more than displeased with her and it showed in her new injuries.

Thankfully they were minor and hadn’t re-injured her only just now healing collarbone.

Positives didn’t remove the fire from in her veins or the red in her vision. She needed to hit something, hurt something. She needed to feel alive. 

Matching into her room she stormed over to her reward. With a growl she was hauling the taller woman up. Once the woman was standing Natalia took two steps back, shoving the table and chairs over to have more space, and falling into a fighting stance.

“Spar.”

The word was a growl. It was the only warning the woman had before Natalia was on her. Fists flying, feet kicking, adrenaline pumping. For all the woman had been caught off guard she gave as good as she got, holding her own far longer than Natalia expected.

Even landing a few hits that just made Natalia see more red.

In the end it took several moments of the woman no longer fighting the pin for Natalia to come back from the haze.

The moment she did Natalia was up, scrambling away from the woman as her reward sucked in lungs full of air. Natalia scanned her reward, assessing the new damage. A split lip, what will be another puffy eye although nowhere as bad as her first, fresh bruises painting over the fading yellow-greens of the old.

Natalia didn’t realize she was staring until the woman’s gaze settled on her own. Her head cocked to the side and Natalia realized the woman was assessing Natalia’s own injuries. Assessing the fact that only one of the visible injuries had come from the woman herself.

Scowling Natalia shook her head and turned away, moving into the bathroom.

She chucked the med kit at the still panting woman before leaving the room all together.

When she returned the woman was still on the floor, med kit splayed in front of her, although she appeared to have finished treating her wounds. Natalia set the plate of food on the table as she walked around to the bathroom and a shower.

Coming out she found the medical supplies had been moved to the table and the woman was standing, arms crossed, waiting for her.

Natalia blinked. Running her towel through her hair she stayed in the doorway as she tried to figure out just what the woman wanted. After several moments of standoff the woman rolled her eyes.

“Sit. Bandages.”

Natalia blinked at her again, brain not comprehending. When the woman raised an eyebrow at her Natalia shrugged, tossed her towel behind her at the shower and crossed to the table.

The woman was careful to pronounce her moments, leaving everything in front of Natalia on the table so she would see what the woman would be using before making any move towards touching her. Still, Natalia remained tense and on edge the entire time.

This was...new.

Natalia had always either treated her own injuries or had the practicality of the Red Room doctors. Even when she was younger and in training, the girls all helping each other when they thought they would not be caught, was different from this. As children they patched each other up with the same practicality of their handlers. There was no care for if they caused more pain or ensuring the other was comfortable with what was being done.

Yet here was a complete stranger, someone who by all rights should be terrified of her even without the violence Natalia had just bestowed upon her person, taking care of her. To the point of even doing things like politely asking Natalia to turn so that an injury was easier to reach!

Natalia had no idea how to process these actions so she didn’t.

She just let it happen.

* * *

For the next week and a half Natalia was only sent on short missions or kept around the base assisting in training and torture. During the days she was gone she thought little of her reward, focused instead entirely on the mission and ensuring her handler had no reason to doubt her.

Doubt. Failure. Mistakes.

These were the things that lead to violence and death.

Natalia was no stranger to watching comrades who had outlived their usefulness be killed by her superiors.

When she was at the base she found it getting slightly harder to separate her reward from her thoughts while outside her room. She knew this would not do. She could not afford any attachment. At best she had only two months left with her reward.

Yet she could not help herself becoming…distracted.

The day after Natalia lost control she allowed the woman to shower while Natalia cleaned her weapons. This was a risk because in order for the woman to reach the shower Natalia had to release her from her ankle chain. However, nothing came of it. The woman even put the chain back in place herself, holding it patiently while Natalia re-engaged the lock.

After that things shifted. 

Natalia sparred with the woman a handful of times. All controlled, with none of the rage from that first time. She ate a few meals in the room with the woman instead of in the mess. Although she was careful to still eat in the mess most meals, else her handlers think she was growing attached.

She wasn’t.

She knew her place, knew her reward would be taken away. Natalia did not get possessions after all. Only equipment. The essentials to maintain Red Room standards. Rewards with expiration dates.

So when she received an undercover mission that required her to be gone for a month Natalia figured her reward would be gone by the time she returned. It had happened before after all.

Natalia went about preparing as normal. Told the caretakers to ensure her reward was cared for. Inspected all her gear to determine if replacements were needed. Memorized her cover and her target and her orders.

Yet she found herself lingering in the room before departure.

When Natalia did not leave immediately the woman stood from her spot in the corner. She was still wearing some of Natalia’s clothes, clean clothes provided with each shower. No major marks were on her body. Faint ones from their spar the other day yes, but she no longer looked like she had been tortured only a month before.

Standing there in the doorway Natalia did not know what made her say it, but she found as she stared into blue eyes that she spoke it anyways.

“One month. We’re never allowed to keep our rewards longer than three months. I-”

Her throat closed over and she left. She didn’t know what she wanted to say. She didn’t know why she spoke. She just wished it didn’t feel like she was saying goodbye to another of her sisters. She had no one left. After all, to take her title she had to kill everyone else in her class.

She was the Black Widow.

She was the Red Room’s.

* * *

For the first time in years Natalia struggled to stay focused during the entirety of her mission. Oh she had no issues staying in character, completing the objective. Natalia doubted her handler even noticed.

But she noticed.

She noticed the discomfort in her chest, the slight ache as she waited between moments and her thoughts drifted to her reward.

When her handler informed her they were being rerouted to support another mission instead of returning to base it took all of her willpower to not react in any way. If Natalia had done anything at all to show displeasure her handler would have noticed. Noticed and responded as appropriate for disrespect and disobedience.

So Natalia completed the other teams mission as well. She pulled their asses out of fire and ignored the grazes of bullets coming too close for comfort when one wore no kevlar. Her handler praised her work loudly in front of their superiors once they were back at base but Natalia paid the conversation little mind.

Her handler noticed that.

Once her superiors left the disrespect was returned as wounds upon her body.

A hiss in her ear told her to “enjoy her reward while it lasted.”

Ice froze her veins and red filled her vision and it took biting her tongue to keep from reacting the way her handler wanted. To show any sign of attachment meant she would be the one pulling the trigger. And for some reason thinking about that made her chest ache.

So with a dangerous mix of fire and ice in her veins Natalia returned to her room. Ignoring the blood seeping into her uniform and the relief blossoming in her chest upon seeing her reward still in the corner, Natalia listened to the red in her vision.

Her fist swung even as the woman was still in the process of standing, and from there it only got worse.

The fight was significantly more brutal than the first time Natalia lost control. This time Natalia did not have one arm still restricted from a broken bone. This time, there was blood dripping from Natalia’s wounds onto the clothes she loaned the other woman and it only reminded Natalia of her rage.

Of her fear.

She pinned the woman on her back and straddled her hips, one hand around her throat, the other pinning wrists. The woman struggled in her pin for several moments before Natalia tightened her grip with both her hands and thighs.

The woman’s hips bucked slightly. Natalia could feel the attempt to swallow around her choke hold.

Focusing on blue eyes, Natalia was surprised to find them beginning to dilate.

Natalia squeezed again and felt the slightest buck of hips beneath her. A shiver ran through her as she realized exactly what had happened. A smirk twisted its way onto her lips as she felt her nipples harden, her own body beginning to respond to the change.

Bending forward, Natalia kept her grip firm, but made sure the woman could breathe as she pressed her lips to the shell of the woman’s ear. A shiver ran through her reward and Natalia’s smirk grew.

“Mine,” she whispered.

Natalia nipped at the woman's ear. Squeezing once she let the woman's hands go, growling softly in the woman's ear to ensure her intent was clear.

Don't move her hands.

She kept her grip around the throat relaxed but present as her free hand traveled down and began pushing the woman's shirt up. Hips bucked at the contact of cool skin on skin but her hands stayed above her head. Natalia rewarded her with tweaks to the nipple her hand passed with the shirt. With one last squeeze of her throat Natalia let go in order to finish pulling the woman's shirt off.

Chest now displayed before her Natalia took a moment to appreciate the panting mess below her.

Dilated eyes, hands grasping at air in an attempt to keep from moving, hips bucking slightly as Natalia ground down in kind.

Her reward looked absolutely tantalizing.

Leaning forward Natalia brought her hand back to the woman's throat even as she kissed her. The kiss was not gentle by any means - biting lips, warring tongues - but Natalia maintained the upper hand thanks to a few tweaks to her reward’s nipples. The woman made this delightful gasp when Natalia used her nails and she had every intention of taking advantage of this fact.

After a few more kisses during which time Natalia moved to straddling a thigh she migrated to placing kisses along the woman's jaw before she skipped her neck to go for a breast. Sucking hard Natalia felt a shudder and grinned around the nipple.

So responsive.

Her free hand trailed lower as she switched breasts.

First tracing around the woman's belly button. Then down the valley and under the waistband of the borrowed shorts until she felt pubic hair. Cupping her prize Natalia let her hand sit for a moment, enjoying the way the woman trembled under her in anticipation. Releasing her nipple with a pop Natalia sat up, intentionally leaning some of her weight onto the hand still wrapped around her reward's throat.

"You're ready for me, aren't you?" 

She kept her voice pitched low, watched as the woman's eyes flew open as Natalia's fingers slipped between folds to start teasing her. The woman's gaze bore into Natalia and she felt her own core flex in anticipation at the desire she found there.

" _Please_."

It was a choked whine, strangled out from around Natalia's grip and, oh, did that send a shudder of pleasure down her spine. Her fingers teased the woman's opening in a circle once, twice, and then two fingers were slipping in. The woman cried out, hips bucking against Natalia automatically.

Natalia left them there, motionless, watching as her reward withered about, knuckles white as they gripped each other to keep from moving. Natalia decided that determination deserved a reward.

"Such a good girl."

Bending forward she placed a gentle kiss on the woman's nose before squeezing her throat tighter. The woman would be able to breathe, but it would be a struggle. Her other hand began to move.

In, out, in, out.

Crooking her fingers to touch the upper wall every few thrusts she knew the woman was close by the way her walls fluttered and clenched around her. It wouldn't take much more Natalia knew, even as she flexed her grip on the woman's throat to let another breathless moan escape.

She was grinding down against her reward's leg, Natalia's thigh pushing up against her hand as she thrust. For a moment Natalia considered denying the orgasm. It wouldn't be hard. Natalia had certainly enjoyed watching the woman squirm during those brief pauses earlier.

A keening whine sounded from above her and Natalia looked up to see the woman had broken skin from where her fingers were digging into her hands to keep them still.

The sight of the blood made up her mind for her.

Once again Natalia leaned forward, only this time she nipped at the woman's ear.

"So good for me, keeping still. Such a good girl deserves a reward, don't you think?"

Her words were met with a deep moan. A grin stretched Natalia's lips as she tugged on the woman's earlobe with her teeth. On her next thrust she slipped a third finger in.

The woman's back arched at the stretch, a gasp escaping before the hand around her throat tightened again.

Moments later Natalia felt the first shudders begin rippling through her reward's body as an orgasm hit her. Tugging gently on the ear lobe Natalia continued her thrusts, not slowing in the least. A desperate "oh god" reached her ears as she felt the woman begin peaking a second time.

This time she did slow her movements, crooking her fingers to earn a low whine. 

With one last tug Natalia released the ear lobe and sat up. Pulling her fingers out she began the process of licking them clean even as she continued to grind against the woman's thigh. Natalia's grip on her throat relaxed causing the woman to open her eyes revealing completely blown pupils. 

For a moment the only sounds were the woman's panting and the rustle of fabric from Natalia's steady grinding. 

When Natalia released her fingers with a pop the woman shuddered, eyes closing briefly before opening again. Natalia saw her flexing her hands from where they'd been clenched, but she made no move to lower them.

Natalia grinned.

The pleased feeling in her chest was significantly stronger than she was expecting for still being pre-orgasm herself.

But she was close.

Something about how close she was must have shown as the woman licked her lips, eyes raking over Natalia's body.

"May I touch you?"

And oh, Natalia shuddered in pleasure just hearing that. Her lips parted in another grin. Giving the woman's throat a good squeeze she released it and stood. Quickly and efficiently she stripped, ignoring the pull of dried blood, before stepping forward and lowering herself over the woman's face.

She was already dripping even before she felt the first brush of tongue against her folds. When that deft tongue found her clit she couldn't help the moan of pleasure.

This had been a wonderful decision.

Feeling that tongue flick up and down from her opening to her clit caused a shudder to run through her. She was close. She was already so close.

"Hands." It was more of a gasp than a demand but the woman obeyed immediately. Eagerly.

Within seconds one hand was holding her steady while the other was slipping a finger inside her. Then two fingers.

Natalia didn't last long enough for a third as the woman's mouth clamped over her clit and sucked at the same time as both fingers curled inside her.

She came with a shuddering cry, arms landing on the ground in front of her to catch herself. She panted even as soft kisses were being placed on her inner thighs. The fingers inside her shifted, curled, and Natalia felt another shudder wrack her body.

"Up." Natalia panted, "Shower."

And she knew logically she needed to get up first in order for the woman to stand, but her thighs were still tightly clamped around her reward's head and she wasn't sure she'd be able to move for a couple more seconds.

She had before, when a mission called for it.

But she saw no need to now as the woman removed her fingers to suck them clean, stroking Natalia's side with the other hand.

Stars why had Natalia waited so long to enjoy her reward?

* * *

Natalia awoke warm, the weight of a body against hers putting her instantly on alert. Her hand was in it’s cuff, meaning she wasn’t on a mission. But there was no reason for her to be sleeping next to someone unless she was underco-.

Her reward.

Natalia remembered at the same time the body next to her stirred. Sparring. The choke. Showering. Landing in her bed. Deft hands doing the cuff for her before settling next to her in bed.

Glancing around the room Natalia’s gaze caught on the opened ankle chain and her breath caught.

The entire night?

And the woman was still here?

“Hey. You okay?” The woman’s voice was raspy and Natalia fought off a shiver at the sound. It wasn’t until a hand settled on her spine and she tried to tense that Natalia realized she was already tensed.

“Yer- you’re still here. But the chain. Why?”

Natalia knew her words probably didn’t make sense. But the very situation she was in didn’t make sense to her. Sure if the woman had left she probably wouldn’t have even made it one floor, but the woman didn’t know that. Nor did the woman know that Natalia would have been severely punished for the escape attempt.

So why?

“You’re just as much a prisoner here as I am, aren’t you?”

The words hit Natalia like a knife, drawing her out of her thoughts the same way a knife draws out blood.

“Wha-. I-.” Natalia sputtered as her brain tried to come up with an answer. Despite how comfortable she was her instincts were screaming at her to move, that this conversation was a threat, a danger to her.

The gentle tug of her wrist cuff brought her spiraling back down.

“It’s all I know.”

“Bullshit.” The woman’s voice was firm. Confident. Anger sparked in Natalia’s chest but the woman continued undeterred.

“Yes, following their orders, living as they dictate is all you have done. But it is not all you know, else you would not be able to go undercover and seamlessly blend in, take on a role, complete a mission without anyone the wiser. I know of you, Black Widow, and you are far more capable than you allow yourself to be.”

The voices in the back of her head were getting louder, more insistent that she eliminate this threat NOW. Still she did not move. Her entire body strained against the demands and only the warm palm pressed against the center of her back anchored her.

“Triggers.”

It was more of a croak than a whisper through her strained vocal cords. She felt the hand against her back flinch, but it was not removed. The woman’s voice remained strong when she spoke next, but Natalia knew she had thrown her.

“What are they telling you to do?”

“Eliminate the threat.” The voices chorused louder in agreement as their command was spoken aloud.

“And why haven’t you?”

“I- I-” Natalia ground her jaw tight and squeezed her eyes before gasping out- “I don’t know!”

The woman was quiet for a moment. The weight of her hand heavy on Natalia's back. Then her other hand was grabbing onto Natalia’s were it still hung in the cuff.

“What is the threat towards? You, or them?”

“Them.”

“Do they say how to eliminate the threat?”

“No.”

A pause.

“Would removing me from the base count as eliminating the threat?”

Natalia’s breath caught.

The voices roared in her ear. That conniving little-. But no, some small logical part of her that wasn’t being drowned out by the voices disagreed. The woman had no way of knowing about the triggers until this moment. There was no way for her to have planned a long game. No way for her actions up to this point to be a lie.

Natalia herself had told the woman of her pending expiration date. The entire reason last night happened was because of the knowledge that Natalia would soon be losing her reward.

And Natalia hadn’t wanted that.

She had grown attached.

And now the woman was asking for Natalia’s assistance in getting out of the Red Room base while laying next to her naked in bed. 

But could Natalia blame her for wanting to live? To escape?

Natalia’s lungs burned as she finally sucked in a new breath of air. The voices still raged at her to eliminate the woman, the threat. But the woman was correct that they didn’t say how to eliminate the threat to the Red Room. Just to do it. Just because she was trained to kill didn’t mean every single mission had resulted in death.

Even if every previous time she’d been told to eliminate someone had resulted in death, the words were not synonymous.

Her triggers gave an order yes. But those orders were not explicit.

Natalia could choose how to obey her triggers.

Slipping her hand from the cuff to curl around the woman's Natalia allowed herself a moment to relax, the voices of the triggers fading now that she had determined that yes, she would be eliminating the threat as they demanded.

* * *

Leaving her room that day was a risk, Natalia knew. But she could not afford to allow her superiors to know anything was different. No one could know she had grown attached to her reward else it would all be for nothing.

Coming back to her room she saw the door ajar and felt fear climb up her throat.

There were voices inside, a cry of pain.

Instantly she was closing the distance. In one motion she slammed her door open the rest of the way and cleared the doorway in case someone tried to fire at that location. It only took a few seconds for her to assess the situation.

Two of the caretakers were here.

The only reason for them to be here, in her room while she was, was to take her reward from her. 

Natalia saw red.

The caretakers were dead before she even realized she’d moved. They’d been trained, but nowhere near the level she was. Staring at their limp bodies she felt the blood drain from her face as she realized what she’d just done. 

The Red Room would not forgive this.

Natalia had forgotten her place. She had stepped out of line. She had grown attached. She had-

“Hey. Hey, deep breaths. Nice and steady. Follow my count. One. Two. Three. Four…”

Natalia latched onto the words, the voice. It took several more moments than they had to spare for her to find her focus. When she opened her eyes, the woman was carefully standing right in front of her, hands raised but not quite reaching out to touch her.

Staring into those blue eyes Natalia realized she no longer had a choice.

She would eliminate the threat her way. She would do everything she could to ensure there was no opportunity for them to direct her to do so another way.

“Time to go.”

The woman blinked. Nodded. And bent down to begin stripping one of the caretakers of their gear. Her complete acceptance and non-reaction threw Natalia again, but she knew she didn’t have time to process why the woman listened to her. Instead she buried her questions and moved to the single dresser to begin pulling on her gear.

They would need to move quickly. 

Her reward would need to keep up, would need to know not to stop if her superiors used one of Natalia’s triggers. So she told her. Natalia told this stranger on the wrong side of a war to run for her life if at any point something was said to them that caused Natalia to go rigid. To white out.

The woman didn’t ask what Natalia meant when she said white out.

Natalia found herself once again wondering about her reward’s past.

Holding the pair of cuffs that the caretakers had been planning to use on her reward Natalia raised an eyebrow. Her reward smirked at her, grabbing them from Natalia’s hand and staging them so they appeared to be locked in place.

Natalia was impressed.

Instead of showing it she spun on her heel and went to the door. Stopping only to motion for the woman to go first.

It was time to see how far they could get before the guards Natalia knew would be watching for exactly this sort of rouse pounced on them.

* * *

They made it to the stairs before the first guards responded. Natalia was both impressed and disappointed before she shoved both feelings beneath the blank mask she wore on ops.

The agents at the stairs were good, but not Widow good.

Surprisingly, her reward was more than capable of keeping up. Or may hap not surprising, as she had to be very competent in order to have injured Natalia all those weeks ago.

They burst out of the stairwell and immediately ducked and rolled from any potential shots. Coming up in a crouch to the side Natalia only had a few seconds to survey the landing. Three agents to the left in the hallway she'd hoped to take. Five along the main route. Both routes had potential exits down them.

Then a voice spoke and Natalia felt her muscles straighten to attention even as her vision began to fade out. Arms dropped to her side as white narrowed everything into a tunnel. Her voice responded to the command by rote.

A different voice spoke directly in her ear.

" _Eliminate the threat by escaping_."

Natalia blinked as she processed the order.

The white began to retreat even as the accented Russian registered. Hands were gripping her upper arms. A face swam into view. A woman's.

Natalia blinked twice.

Nodded ever so slightly.

And _moved_.

The trigger of her pistol was pulled even before her arm was raised. In the same moment her free hand came up and yanked the woman around to the side so Natalia had a clear view of the five in front of her.

Four and a half now. 

The sound of shots and a grunt told her an engagement had begun between her objective and the guards on the left. Her mission parameters were clear.

Eliminate the threat.

She would remove the threat from the Red Room. Those in front of her had an opposing objective. She would need to go through them to complete her objective.

It took 27 seconds for Natalia to move herself and her objective to the nearest window ahead of them. An additional 14 seconds were spent securing additional equipment before shattering the window. 18 seconds were spent clearing the immediate exterior before allowing the objective out and following.

By the time they were moving to the side of the building Natalia knew they would need a different plan of attack in order to meet the mission objective.

The trail of crimson on the objectives shirt gave Natalia an idea.

Yanking on the objective's hand Natalia guided her back around to a building behind the one they'd departed. The alert had gone up to lock down the base, but no guard was abandoning post to do so. They weren't expecting company in the medical facility. It was short work creeping up on and taking out the guards there. 

Inside Natalia shifted roles as required. The objective would be able to receive treatment while Natalia stocked supplies so long as no one alerted patrols to their presence. And as long as security missed them on the cameras they would have some time.

The first exam room checked had the supplies they needed. 

Natalia unceremoniously pulled the objective in and gestured to the cabinets along the wall.

" _Treat the wound_."

She then changed clips and departed in search of a different type of ammunition.

It took her longer than necessary but she succeeded.

Returning on silent feet she caught sight of a pair of boots being dragged into the room she'd left her objective in. Carefully she approached in time to catch the door before it closed behind the boots, slipping into the room with hands raised in peace.

The objective had completed bandaging her wound but appeared to have been unable to leave based on the forms of two downed guards.

Internally Natalia was impressed.

Passing over part of her ammunition she turned to leave only to feel a hand grab her arm. Instantly she was shifting for a throw before realizing it was her objective's hand. A raised eyebrow was given in response to her blank stare.

Her objective motioned to the still open and partially scattered medical supplies on the counter. Natalia blinked.

Rolling her eyes the objective grabbed Natalia's hand and yanked it over to the sink. Three seconds later hydrogen peroxide was being poured into the open gash wound on Natalia's hand from the window glass. Twelve seconds further and a bandage was applied.

Releasing the now bandaged hand her objective motioned for the door.

Natalia blinked.

Blinked again as something tried to push past the mission parameters in her mind. Another heartbeat later she shook her head and turned, shifting the weight of her acquired ammunition as she cleared the doorway ahead of her objective.

* * *

An explosion signaled their departure from base. Once the objective was secured in the woods away from any sign of pursuit Natalia's orders were completed. Automatically her body fell into the stance conditioned for receiving orders.

" _Objective completed. Next objective?_ "

Her objective stared at her. An expression passed over the objective's face but Natalia was unconcerned. She remained unmoving. She would not move again until ordered. The cost of not having patience was well known.

" _Natalia_."

Natalia blinked but otherwise did not move. That word was not a recognized command. The woman in front of her spoke again, but Natalia determined the words were not directed at her and so did not respond.

" _Widow_."

Natalia shifted to the ready.

" _Objective?_ "

An address was rattled off along with the request of escort. Natalia blinked. Blinked again. Nodded. And immediately set off in the rough direction of the address listed. It would take time. The objective would not be able to move as efficiently as Natalia's own enhanced body would. They would need a plan.

But Natalia was confident she could accomplish the objective.

Failure wasn't an option.

* * *

**_~fin~_ **


End file.
